I had him playing on the springpole a few days ago and when he went to jump (Only his front end came off the ground, it's set-up to be low), he screamed. My dog does not ever scream in pain (And he hurts himself a lot) so I put him up for the day.

I noticed the next day he wasn't carrying much weight on his rear left leg, but he wasn't necessarily limping. I didn't work him, just kept an eye on him. It continued for another day or so.

After a few days he went back to normal, and I tried to do a little work on the springpole. I noticed he didn't make an attempt to jump at all and wasn't as into it as usual. So again I put him up and just kept an eye on him.

Today I took him for a walk and he seems to be back to normal. But I have limited his exercise considerably (Which sucks because there is a show soon).

He has been working harder lately- I've started pulling him again and he has a sort of erratic pulling style I am trying to correct. But I'm worried this may be more than a case of over-worked muscles.

We had similar issues with Stella, and she continues to have mild limping for a day after heavy exercise, but after being checked out they couldn't find anything wrong with her, so we have concluded it's sore muscles.

If you suspect a cruciate tear then 2 weeks of restricted exercise is not going to do much if anything except maybe lower inflammation. The tear will never heal unless maybe you use stem cell therapy which is still a maybe. The body needs time to build scar tissue around the knee to support the torn ligament. That can take at least 8 weeks. If you really suspect a cruciate tear then 8 weeks of no exercise is going to be much better for the knee than 2. After 8 weeks if you see improvement you should still restrict movement to gentle activities for another 4-6 weeks. If you do not see improvement, a brace or some such might be in order to help the ligament stay intact.

lilangel wrote:If you suspect a cruciate tear then 2 weeks of restricted exercise is not going to do much if anything except maybe lower inflammation. The tear will never heal unless maybe you use stem cell therapy which is still a maybe. The body needs time to build scar tissue around the knee to support the torn ligament. That can take at least 8 weeks. If you really suspect a cruciate tear then 8 weeks of no exercise is going to be much better for the knee than 2. After 8 weeks if you see improvement you should still restrict movement to gentle activities for another 4-6 weeks. If you do not see improvement, a brace or some such might be in order to help the ligament stay intact.

x2

When Paco got a partial tear we went this route. My vet is a good friend who met us off the record and gave us this same advice. We were then able to re-instate Paco's then expired insurance policy and hold off surgery for two years after that (most insurance policies will only cover ACL if the policy is at least a year old) because the rest and scar tissue did their job. It's very strict "no exercise", though. Crate, tie-down, or leash at all times, absolutely no running or jumping.

There has been no swelling nor signs of pain and he is back to his old self after a week of rest from extensive exercise. We're going to take it easier, of course. But I'm a bit relieved, keeping him rested is harder than keeping him worked.